CVADA Board Meeting Minutes August 16th, 8-8:30 pm
Attendance:
Chris Bruce
Carolyn Aucoin
Nancy Power
Lucy Poirier
Melissa Samms
Ron Laudadio
Travis Cormier
Tracy Keeping called in as she is ill with Covid
Minutes by Ron Laudadio on behalf of Tracy
Regrets:
Dale Lomond
Meeting Opened. at 8:05
Chris Motion to adopt the agenda of the meeting.
Seconded by Travis.
Adopted
Agenda
Windmills
Update from Sunday's meeting with Chief Peggy White of Three Rivers
Community invitations to a private meeting
Public meeting on behalf of the company
Impact on hunting in Site C (area 9)
Trails
Public day to clean up Coastangs (August 27th)
Update on Starlight
The back leg of the wetlands (past the slaughterhouse)
Public Communications
Quarterly Meetings (September 17th)
Website launch
Bios from board members
Motion by Chris to adopt the previous meeting minutes for July 9th and the short emergency meeting on July 28th.
Seconded by Chris
Adopted
We decided to address the trail portion of the agenda to capitalize on Ash's attendance since the Trail Committee had just finished their meeting.
Trail Update
Ash offered us an update on behalf of the trail committee.
- Ash offered opening words and land recognition to recognize and respect our history and indigenous peoples.
-The trail committee has had Preliminary discussions with ACOA, IATNL and DIET reps to get guidance in prep for the application
-Preliminary discussions with The Trail Vendor about re-estimate. Also, to review the trail for effective design to accommodate water management in the fall.
- Presented a trail map and gave options during all the discussions.
- There is security in the agreements with the landowners accepting the Osmond estate as it is still attested.
- We have agreements with the IATNL and the Crown Land for access.
- The government has informed us there should be a sense of urgency to get our applications in as other groups may pressure us to use the funds. So, there is interest in avoiding delay with the Osmond estate to move forward. We intend to move forward with using the Osmond estate.
- The government will stop the application if it doesn't have all land assurances documented.
- We confirmed the intention to continue to proceed with the name of the Starlite trail as it is, regardless of the comment of the Greenleaf Consultant report and the interest in following the consultant's guidance. It is also an agreement to keep the name with Stuart Young - one of the key land owners. We also recognize the whole valley community will refer to it as they knew it for decades, and other visitors are already aware of the trail by its original name.
- Ash stated he is grateful we have invited him to contribute his skills and experience in trails and trail design.
- Travis acknowledges the contribution of Ash Hall and Matt English in re-walking the Starlite trail on behalf of the Vendor of Choice to document water crossings and other aspects of the trail to help with the estimation process.
- Travis made a point that on the social platform of Facebook, people are concerned there has been little known and communicated about the Starlite trail progress.
- We intend to take care of the Coastangs trail, which will be aligned with the community's interests.
- Chris confirmed
Chris proposed a public cleanup day for the Coastangs trail and the Wetlands Centre area. Whipper-snipper and lunch day. He has proposed the day to be August 27th and will publish the event on the new website when it is live. The idea was to clean up the Wetlands Trail in the AM, and the Coastangs Trail in the PM with the cleanup, with times for food and drinks at the Wetlands Centre at lunchtime. We are looking for many volunteers to get a lot done quickly.
Travis suggested we consider replacing the rotted picnic table at the Wetlands Centre Trail so it is usable. It doesn't look good.
Ash mentioned we should look forward to considering a cohesive image of all the trails in the area; for example, if we are going to paint the picnic tables, we use the same colour. We could even inspire visitors to get pictures of themselves with a milestone on each of the area's trails for fun and to encourage the use of the area.
Travis mentioned that in the future, we would need to look for a hired person to maintain all the trails we are preparing for visitor use.
Chris mentioned there is interest in carving out a space for young people who live in the valley to get involved through family engagement or connection with the school and the student council.
Tracy called in to attend as she is home sick with Covid.
Community Volunteer Clean Up day for the Local Trails
MOTION by Chris to host an event on August 27th (Saturday) for volunteers to help clean up the Wetlands Trail and the Coastangs Trail with a thank you food/drink event during lunch hour at the Wetland Centre. Time to start 10-Noon at the Wetlands, Lunch at 1, and Costangs for 2-4.
Seconded by: Travis Cormier
Pass Unanimously
We will post the event and ask for volunteers on Facebook - they can forward their names on Facebook or contact us directly to get a tally of attendees.
The ACW is running a cold plate event that day, and we recognize people will leave when they can to pick up their cold plates.
Ash departs the meeting as we move on to the rest of the agenda.
Windmill Application for Hydrogen and Ammonia Production
Chris mentioned meeting with Chief Peggy White of Three Rivers to begin a conversation about supporting the community's wishes. Chief White has contacts across the indigenous network. They discussed the three sites being mentioned. The Qalipu has the management of portions of two of the sites. Her vision is to talk with the organizations responsible for the sites to look forward to some community involvement to benefit the community.
Area 9 (Site C) is part of the Three Rivers land; they insist they won't be represented by any organization other than themselves.
Chief Peggy White's thoughts are about looking into direct benefits to the community, such as gaining remuneration to feed and benefit the community. She encouraged the CVADA to counsel the community to see if the community is interested in doing the same.
Melissa helped us understand that Peggy's goal is to find a way to ensure this project benefits the community in whatever way possible. She is encouraging the community to step up and discuss options that will help the community in some way (i.e. related businesses, etc.). The interest is to keep some of this venture's profits and benefits for the community, not just the organizations applying for the windmills. There is also a discussion about compensating the businesses and community members that will be compromised because of the 18 months of disruption as they do all the construction. I.e. The hunting camps and secondary businesses that are related.
The committee can't remember an environmental assessment done by the government that has not stopped the project. Hence, we recognize the concern that there will be a lot of disruption to the environment, businesses, and community for a long time, and people will be negatively affected.
Many people who rely on the Moose may be affected as they may be deterred by the construction and installation short-term and possibly long-term.
There is a meeting on Sunday for community leaders to identify alignment and interest. The CVADA Board is invited to the Wetlands Centre on Sunday at 2 pm. Other local community groups will be invited. The goal of this smaller meeting is to plan and prepare for greater community involvement if that is what the community desires. Chris is encouraging us as a board to attend to best represent the community and be informed as we engage the rest of the community.
Chris has documented a list of local community leaders we will invite to this meeting.
We recognize there will be another public meeting for local businesses and stakeholders.
Of many, a topic we wish to discuss is bird and animal migration.
We recognize there is a second application we know of for windmills in Port aux Basques.
Public Communications
On the heels of the comments of some community members about having an interest in transparency and communications, we wish to discuss striking a new sub-committee.
Chris motions that we formally strike our communications committee.
Seconded Lucy Poirier
Adopted
The committee has assigned Ron Laudadio as the chair, and Melissa Samms is also a member.
In early July, Ron drafted a website for the use of the CVADA, and we will move to continue to edit and use it for our communications strategy. He will also publish the site very soon.
Ron to provide an update at the next CVADA Board Meeting for the use of the site.
The next CVADA Board Meeting will be on September 12th at the Wetlands Centre at 7 pm.
The quarterly public meeting will be on September 15th at 7 pm.
Chris called the meeting to a close at 9:49 pm.